This website belongs to Michael Quicke, C.W. Koller Professor of Preaching at Northern Seminary, Lombard, Illinois. As author, itinerant preacher and church observer, he will keep readers abreast of insights along his journey.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Surprised by kindness

I hope Christmas proved joyful for you with some good worship, food and gatherings. After a quiet Christmas (interrupted noisily by the family on Dec. 27th) we are enjoying the lull before 2016 powers forward. Just before Christmas, Carol and I visited a nearby small town and carefully parked our new automatic car in the main car park. Painted 'frozen white' it sparkled. Returning 2 hours later an innocent looking note on the front windscreen invited me to look at the rear driver's side where Dan had swung into the back panel, crunching it inwards and scraping along the back. He left his phone number and promise to pay. When I called him and thanked him for his honesty he apologized for hitting the new car. He seemed genuinely sorry!

A neighbor recommended a family body repair shop in a village not far away. When I arrived a likeable young man assessed the damage, pulled out a very ordinary looking screw driver and prized the panel back into position. Just like that! I couldn't believe my eyes. He said the deep scratches were of a different order and his boss (due back shortly) would need to give me a quote for re-spraying.

His boss took one look, commented that it was 'frozen white' and he would need to mix the exact match. Soon he was back and with deft dabs and a drier the scratches disappeared. Marvelling I asked him what I owed. 'Nothing' he replied, 'what's a dab of paint between friends!' Never having met him before you can imagine my surprise and delight. And when I told Dan what had happened there was even more delight!

What a lovely thing to happen - quite out of the blue. That of course - something wonderful quite out of the blue - is what happened on the biggest scale imaginable at the birth of Christ, who has come to change everything for the better. And he makes all the difference as we soon embark on a New Year, doesn't he?